Clijsters back on top

KIM CLIJSTERS won her third straight Seat Open title with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Chanda Rubin and returned to the No.1 ranking.

Clijsters captured her eighth title of the season Sunday to equal the mark of Justine Henin-Hardenne, her Belgian countrywoman whom she replaced at the top of the WTA rankings. Henin-Hardenne overtook Clijsters a week ago but yielded the No.1 slot when she decided not to play this past week.

Clijsters has beaten Rubin in all six of their meetings. Rubin, ranked No.10, broke Clijsters early but the rest of the opening set was lopsided. Rubin took a 4-1 lead in the second set but Clijsters took six of the next seven games to secure her 18th career title.

Clijsters gained her first title in Luxembourg and has won the hard-court tournament four of the last five times. In two weeks, Clijsters will end her season at the Tour Championships in Los Angeles, where she will defend the title and her No.1 ranking.

Miller starts with win

AMERICAN Bode Miller romped to victory in the first men's World Cup giant slalom of the season. Miller navigated Austria's Rettenbach course in a two-run combined time of two minutes 9.58 seconds. He was an impressive 1.12 secs faster than runner-up Frederic Covili, with fellow Frenchman Joel Chenal taking third in 2:10.76. Reigning overall World Cup champion Austria's Stephan Eberharter finished the competition in sixth.

Compatriot Hermann Maier, who missed almost two seasons after a motorbike accident in 2001, finished 19th after his two runs. Another challenger for World Cup honours, American Erik Schlopy, suffered from a bad tumble although he escaped unhurt. Britain's Alain Baxter did not qualify for a second run after finishing 51st on his first attempt, over five seconds off the pace.

Panizzi rises

PEUGEOT's Gilles Panizzi snatched a last- gasp victory in the Rally of Catalunya to push new world championship leader Sebastien Loeb into second place and set up a four-way showdown for the title. Loeb let a 31-second lead slip on a rain-lashed final stage but second place was still enough to take him level on points with Carlos Sainz at the top of the world championship standings.

In the race, Sainz, dropped from fourth to seventh overall.

Vieira sidelined

ARSENAL captain Patrick Vieira will be out for at least three weeks with a torn thigh muscle. The Gunners skipper only returned to action after a three-week lay-off when he came on as a second half substitute in the Champions League defeat at Dynamo Kiev. He picked up his latest injury in the 2-1 defeat. He will now miss Premiership matches against Leeds and Tottenham and the return leg at home against Dynamo Kiev.

He could be ready to return at Birmingham on 22 November and the Champions League tie away to Inter Milan three days later.

Vieira, along with four of his team-mates, is also facing a suspension for his involvement in the ugly scenes in the Premiership match against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Frenchman was charged with failing to leave the field after his sending-off and is awaiting punishment by the Football Association.

Arsenal is also without defender Martin Keown who faces another two weeks on the sidelines with a calf injury.

Successful in squash

Top seeded Australia successfully defended its men's world team squash championship title with a 3-0 victory over first-time finalists France in the final in Vienna, Austria. After winning the trophy in the inaugural event on home soil in 1967, Australia has now extended its haul to a record eight titles.

England made up for the disappointment of its loss to France with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over fourth seeded Egypt to claim the bronze medal.

France, the third seed which achieved a historic first ever win over second seeded England to reach the final, made the favourites work hard for their glory. World champion David Palmer, who earlier in the month added the British Open trophy to his PSA Tour title tally, took a 9-0, 7-0 lead in the opening match against his top string counterpart Thierry Lincou before the Frenchman responded.

The packed auditorium surrounding the all- glass court in the Wellness Park centre in the Viennese suburb of Oberlaa were treated to a glittering display of world class squash as Lincou, ranked just a single place below his opponent at four in the world, fought back to take the third game.

Palmer reasserted his authority over the tiring Frenchman, however, to put Australia ahead with a 9-0, 9-3, 6-9, 9-5 victory in 77 minutes.

In an acrimonious battle between the second strings which followed, world No.6 Anthony Ricketts, making his world championship debut for Australia, needed 74 minutes to overcome Gregory Gaultier, France's hero 24 hours earlier, 9-4, 7-9, 9-2, 8-10, 9-0 to clinch the title for the jubilant Aussies.

Paul Price made it 3-0 for the team with a 9-3, 9-3 win over France's third string Renan Lavigne in the best-of-three dead rubber.

Team coach Byron Davis had nothing but praise for his Australian squad. "The truth is, this squad only gets together like this every two years -- for the World Championships -- and this is the pinnacle of world squash. They're a quality side, professional in every way. And to their credit, they played fantastic squash. They produced today when it really mattered. This was their hardest match, against a side which showed great strength of character after beating second seeds England for the first time."

With world No.1 Peter Nicol rested, world No.10 Lee Beachill led the team and pulled off a morale-boosting 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 win against world No.8 Karim Darwish, his first career win over the Egyptian. World junior champion James Willstrop pulled back from a game down to beat Mohamed Abbas, ranked 12 places higher in the world, 7-9, 9- 2, 9-7, 9-1 in 68 minutes, before Nick Matthew made it a maximum points victory following a 9-7, 9-2 defeat of third string Wael El-Hindi.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 30 October - 5 November 2003 (Issue No. 662)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/662/sp3.htm